BEIRUT: An Iranian Foreign Affairs Ministry official Saturday said Tehran would prevent Israel from continuing its aggression on Gaza with all means available, saying Hamas has only used a mere 3 percent of its military capability in the 19-day conflict.

“We are exerting and using all available efforts and capabilities to prevent [Israel] from continuing its massacres and crimes against civilians in Gaza,” Deputy Iranian Foreign Minister for Arab Affairs Hossein Amir Abdolahian told reporters in Beirut.

“I want to reaffirm the Islamic Republic of Iran's support of the resistance might in Palestine and resistance in the region in general. We will not allow the Zionist entity to continue its barbaric aggression on the Gaza strip or allow it to achieve its ambition.”

His remarks came after meeting Foreign Affairs Minister Gebran Bassil.

Abdolahian arrived in Lebanon Saturday morning and is expected to hold talks with Prime Minister Tammam Salam.

“We believe that the Palestinian resistance in Gaza has the sufficient capabilities to continue its heroic confrontation and the resistance has only used 3 percent of its military capabilities since the conflict began three weeks ago,” he said.

Bassil and Abdolahian discussed in length the Lebanese-Iranian ties as well as events in the region, particularly the war in Gaza.

“I expressed our appreciation to the minister's initiative against what the Zionist entity is doing to the Palestinian people at the International Criminal Court,” he said, referring to the ministry’s request to the ICC to open an investigation into Israel’s war crimes in Gaza.

“The savage massacres and crimes committed by the Zionist entity cannot be tolerated and should not be accepted by any Arab or Muslim country,” he said, as he condemned international silence over events in Gaza and assistance to Israel.

"If the Zionist entity continues with its aggression, and the conditions set out by the Palestinian resistance in Gaza are not taken into consideration, then the Palestinian resistance will behave in the way Israel deserves in the coming phase.”